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Firstly, welcome back after the Easter break! An important milestone in your annual school calendar, I’m sure. No doubt a busy term lays ahead for you and your school. To support you with the delivery of all NCFE qualifications, we’ll look forward to continuing to support you with our award winning service during this busy time. Last term NCFE also hit a very important milestone. But before I go into that I’d like to give a little bit of context. In September 2013 we saw the first Year 11 pupils begin their V Cert studies with NCFE. As a new range of qualifications designed to respond to the Department for Education (DfE) performance table we were certain of their value to you and your pupils.

The build-up to the general election has seen the topic of childcare discussed by all of the major political parties. Various pledges have been made in relation to accessing childcare, some of the highlights of these are; Labour: Labour want to ensure all primary schools guarantee access to childcare from 8am-6pm, and also extend free childcare from 15 to 25 hours for working parents of 3 and 4 year-olds.

‘Everybody has A*s – employers want character’ (p10) – John Cridland, Director-General of the business lobbying organisation the CBI, wants schools to do more to develop character – he said in an interview with TES that his members would look "at all elements of a learner’s CV, rather than merely the qualifications, because everybody has A*s." He also called for Ofsted to judge schools on the holistic development of pupils, looking at a students’ ‘whole education’ – which has aligned with recent announcements from Education Secretary Nicky Morgan and Labour’s Tristram Hunt.

We need plus-size prep for ‘big fat GCSE’, teachers say (p12) – Maths teachers are asking for the launch of the new 9-1 graded GCSEs to be delayed by a year to allow for sufficient preparation time, as no sample materials have been released to schools in advance of the GCSEs. The new ‘Big fat GCSEs’ will be rolled out from September 2015, and because of a row over standards, the practice and sample materials won’t be rolled out until April at the earliest. The Association of Teachers of Mathematics has written to Ofqual requesting that "it would be prudent to delay the introduction of the new GCSEs by a year."

Apprenticeships is the topic on everyone’s lips at the moment, with cross-party pledges to increase the number of young people undertaking Apprenticeships following the General Election, and a successful Apprenticeship Week highlighting the benefits of the scheme to businesses, educational institutions and learners. The evidence supporting Apprenticeships as a viable education path to take continues to grow, as research has shown customers favour businesses with Apprentices over those who don’t use Apprenticeship schemes at all.

Climate change is in the news again as the concern for the damage we may be doing to our planet increases. Recently it’s been reported that increases in temperature could bring mosquito-carried diseases to the UK, and that it could even affect the quality and taste of our food. In an effort to raise awareness of climate change and encourage people to actively participate in green activities, the WWF began Earth Hour in 2007. Over 162 countries worldwide now participate in the event, which involves turning off lights for an hour. Prominent landmarks including the Sydney Opera House and Big Ben have taken part in the past, reaching the attention of millions worldwide.

A report by the Commons Health Committee has called for improvements to be made to the access available for social care at the end of life. Following the report which claimed there was “unacceptable variation” in the quality of care received across England, Care minister Norman Lamb said the government will now look closely at a policy of free end of life social care for all. Currently, families seeking free care for a dying relative at home have to go through a complex process of means testing and assessment to identify if they qualify for funded support for end of life care. As a result, more than half of deaths across England still occur in NHS hospitals, despite more than two-thirds of people saying they would prefer to spend their last days at home.

Last week we celebrated the eighth National Apprenticeship Week, which saw more than 600 events held across the country, shining a national media spotlight on Apprenticeships; a spotlight which was only intensified by the build up to the general election. With a year of change behind us and a great deal of uncertainty still ahead in terms of the future for Apprenticeships, the week provided a welcomed opportunity to take stock and appreciate the true value that Apprenticeships have on the lives of learners, businesses and our economy. Co-ordinated by the National Apprenticeship Service, the week aims to help inspire more young people to become apprentices, whilst encouraging business to unlock the potential of Apprenticeships.

Fellow North East-based educational charity Teach First have stated that all schools should have a professionally trained teacher delivering careers advice to their pupils. In their report titled ‘Careers education in the classroom: The role of teachers in making young people work-ready,’ the charity said that at least one teacher at a school should specialise in careers advice and employability, and that this should be at the core of each curriculum led by teachers, and supported by businesses and policy makers.

As we get increasingly closer to May’s General Election, each of the major political parties are setting out their stall in terms of how they would improve education within Schools. With this in mind, it’s interesting to see Labour’s pledge to move arts to the heart of education, giving each child an entitlement to a creative learning experience. In his first major speech on the arts, Ed Miliband, Labour leader, told a gathering of cultural leaders that arts, culture and creativity would be integral to the next Labour government’s mission. He talked passionately about the “wider impact” these subjects can have on a young person’s education.